Machine is about 5 or 6 years old and welds good. sometimes arc goes out on stainless push pedal to restart and hlp comes on screen. push pedal several times and it will start back welding???? on aluminum i set amps on 95 to 100 amps welding 1/8 and it welds good but sometimes amps spike to 275-300 and burns up work piece. what should i look for?? thanks

With these smaller machines you have a common problem. The way to get the weld to hold is on thicker material you have to sometimes pre-heat the metal in order to get it to stick. Also if ther is no flux nor gas the material has to be clean, free of dirt, oil, and rust. These machines are for very light use only. For welding material over 8 th inch, I suggest investing in a welder with at least 100 amps

You cant break stainless steel cutter blade, welded parts and steel ball bearings with water mellon rinds.
Even a metal fork should not break a garbage disposal ... the fork will wedge against the side wall and cause cutter blade to get stuck. Once the fork is removed, no damage is done.

If insinkerator is shaking, then either a bearing has rusted out, or the shaft has finally worn out.
The stainless cutter blade is permanently attached to a steel shaft that goes into the sealed bearing. If the cutter weld is broken, then the disposal will wobble. If the bearing wears out, then the steel shaft will wobble. If the steel shaft is worn down at the bearing, then the cutter plate will wobble. A tiny bit of wobble will cause the disposal to shake. A brand new disposal will vibrate.
Check date of purchase receipt.
Amazon shows warranty is 2 years:
http://www.amazon.com/InSinkErator-Badger-Food-Waste-Disposer/dp/B00004U9JO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1303015273&sr=8-3
If disposal is 3-5 years old then that is a short lifetime for a solid product like the 1/2 HP.
If disposal is 5-8 years old, that's a good run. 8-12 years is very good.
I wrote tips for replacing disposal from days when I worked apartment maintenance:
We replaced disposals every 6-7 years. Some never wore out. Others went bad right away.
http://www.fixya.com/support/r7929008-replace_garbage_disposal

my welder doesn't weld but my electric meeter goes wild.

Is this on new rods as well as one's you'be been already welding with? Depending on rod types, some will "flux over" the end, after welding insulating the tip. When you're welding at a low setting, with a small rod, sometimes it is hard to start an arc. A 7018 rod is a good example of this. Strike the rod like a woodden match, or drag it on the metal, to expose the rod. It also depends on your welder. Some have settings to help start an arc and then control the current. Older transformer welders arn't that smart and are less forgiving on low current thin metal settings.

Arc blow could be the cause! Put your ground on the work piece and weld away from it. If you weld toward a ground clamp the magnetic forces will blow your arc around sometime. When taking a cert this simple mistake can make or break ya on your cap or reinforcement beads.

What does it do using the gun trigger and not the pedal? Peadal is supplied with full voltage and a reostat in the pedal is what regulates as you press or release. If machine is controlable without the pedal, The pedal reostat is kaput.

use super glue to glue in place in spots cut away seal near the weld seams, then make sure the door closes ok then get 5 minute epoxy and glue the seal on where it comes off, it's a permanent fix for a old machine but it will work. so go ahead and replace the seal.

The contact should have a gap .008 .

Hi..I had the same problem yesterday...the maching would start when I pushed the button and then stop..I had to push the button again to get it going..My stacked set is around 8 years old.

Here's what we did..moved the washer away from the water source and unscrewed the water intake lines..there is a little screen there...took the screen out of both hot and cold lines..one screen has some debris in it..the other was almost completely blocked..we are on a well and sometimes dirt..etc..gets in the lines..

Today no problems doing the laundry..its working like new..